Usage of "his or her"

[GoISB]

Is the usage of "his or her" correct.

 

As a person ages, his or her opinions change.

If a student parks a car on campus, he or she has to buy a parking sticker.

 

Thanks.

[Erin]

Those usages are accepted by many people; however, some people feel that they are clunky or unwieldy and prefer to use only one pronoun. For example,

 

• As a person ages, her opinions change.
  
• As a person ages, his opinions change.
  

There are many different opinions on this usage; I think the most important one is to come up with your own 'his or her' policy, and apply is consistently. :)

Is the usage of "his or her" correct.

 

As a person ages, his or her opinions change.

If a student parks a car on campus, he or she has to buy a parking sticker.

I'm going to move this to the English forum, since it doesn't appear to be a grammar question specific to GMAT. :)

[ravigmat]

person/student is gender free i.e they can be male/female.

"his or her" usage in the sentences appear to be correct.

"his or her" can also be substituted with one

 

 

• As a person ages, ones opinions change.
  
• If a student parks a car on campus, one has to buy a parking sticker.
  

[GoISB]

Those usages are accepted by many people; however, some people feel that they are clunky or unwieldy and prefer to use only one pronoun. For example,

 

• As a person ages, her opinions change.
  
• As a person ages, his opinions change.
  

There are many different opinions on this usage; I think the most important one is to come up with your own 'his or her' policy, and apply is consistently. :)

 

I'm going to move this to the English forum, since it doesn't appear to be a grammar question specific to GMAT. :)

 

Hey Erin,

Thanks for the explanation.

Actually I picked this sentence from OG 10. Although it was an incorrect choice, the explanation didn't say anything about the use of "his or her".

So, from your explanation, I conclude that if either of the two is present{his/her} to modify a common noun, I can consider the option correct.

[Erin]

 

• As a person ages, ones his opinions change.
  
• If a student parks a car on campus, one she has to buy a parking sticker.
  

I wouldn't use one's or one in these sentences. We should use one to refer to people in general. Since you've already specified a noun in these sentences, you should use he, she, he or she, or she or he.

 

Hey Erin,

Thanks for the explanation.

Actually I picked this sentence from OG 10. Although it was an incorrect choice, the explanation didn't say anything about the use of "his or her".

So, from your explanation, I conclude that if either of the two is present {his/her} to modify a common noun, I can consider the option correct.

Well, it's a bit more complicated than that--you need to consider concision, gender, number, etc. But it sounds like you got the point of the question here. :)

[wasleys]

I have always hated the use of 'his or her', 'he or she' or even - Heaven forfend - 's/he'. Where possible I would prefer to reword to avoid, eg:

 

A student who parks a car on campus has to buy a parking sticker.

 

If students park cars on campus, they have to buy parking stickers.

[GoISB]

Thanks Erin, Wasleys and Ravigmat.